Elizabeth Warren aligns with daughter’s think tank on policy goals

Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s high-profile campaigns to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and press criminal charges against HSBC and other “big banks” align neatly with viewpoints promoted and disseminated by her daughter’s left-wing think tank Demos, a George Soros-funded organization that played a vital behind-the-scenes role in Warren’s electoral victory last year.

Warren’s close relationship with Demos underscores not only the extent to which her own daughter aided her political career, but also the influence of well-funded progressive think tanks on the Democratic policy agenda as more openly progressive candidates gain national elective office.

Warren excoriated Senate Republicans Tuesday in her remarks defending the confirmation of Richard Cordray as head of the CFPB, a Dodd-Frank agency that Warren herself designed. Cordray was installed as CFPB director last year by President Barack Obama with a recess appointment, and has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans have been attempting to hold up Cordray’s confirmation until the CFPB, which has been criticized for its sweeping and largely vague regulatory power, is reformed.

“I see nothing here but a filibuster threat against Director Cordray as an attempt to weaken the consumer agency. I think the delay in getting him confirmed is bad for consumers,” Warren said.